Doin' Fine (Aaron Goodwin short story)
by GACfan4Life
Summary: Stephanie Hollingstead is best friends with Aaron Goodwin. The two of them have been through thick and thin. But will Stephanie's personal problems put a damper on their friendship? Inspired by "Doin' Fine" by Lauren Alaina


**A/N: I want to thank the ones hoping my mom's health improves and it has more than the dr's said. I know I haven't been writing much and I'm sorry about that. Having a full-time job limits me on writing. So I'm still trying to get my writing mojo back and I will be updating stories when I get the chance :)**

With a sigh, Stephanie was jerked out of her thoughts when the bus came to a complete stop at Lane Middle school. Grabbing her bag she trudged down the bus stairs and into the school yard getting lost in her thoughts again about what went on during spring break.

 **Spring Break of 1989 in Portland, OR**

First day of spring break wasn't bad, she had spent time with her parents. It was after that first day that her life turned around. Her dad had to go on an emergency business trip and she begged him not to go.

"Daddy, why can't someone else go in your place?"

"Sweetie, I wish I could but you know I run that section." Her father said giving his daughter a tight hug, kissing her forehead. "I'll only be gone for three days. And you know what?"

"What?" Stephanie mumbled trying to fight the tears back.

"How'a 'bout when I get back we can go to your favorite ice cream place and gorge on ice cream." He said with a grin.

"Jerry...you'll ruin both your dinner's then."

"It's not going to hurt anything." Jerry said to his wife. "I mean, she's becoming a woman so she's adjusting to hormone changes."

"Daaaaad!..." Stephanie said looking at him with a mix of embarrassment and happiness.

"Whaat?" He asked with a chuckle. "So what do you say, ice cream when I get back in town?"

"Yeah." She smiled up at him.

"Alright." Jerry said, giving his daughter another kiss on the forehead before letting her go and kissing his wife bye. "I'll be back in a few days. You two be safe and if you need me, call."

"Alright, be safe Jerry."

"Bye daddy."

With one final hug and wave Stephanie's father left for the airport. Once the front door was shut, Natalie turned to her daughter with a smile.

"Now that he's gone, what about some girl time?"

Stephanie inwardly sighed, usually 'girl time' consisted of her mother asking if she had a crush on anybody and doing things that Stephanie liked when she was seven.

"We're not going to pretend that we're in a magical forest and we turn into ponies that fight off the aliens that try to take over the world are we?"

Her mother chuckled remembering when Stephanie was seven and pretended to save the world as a pony. "No, I figured you would want to do something more in your age range. Maybe help with making cookies?"

"What kind?"

"Chocolate chip with M&Ms."

Stephanie's eyes lit up when her mother said that. "Ok."

With a laugh from her mother they went into the kitchen and began making cookies...well trying to make cookies since they both started eating the cookie dough.

"How's Aaron doing? Haven't heard you talk much about him anymore. Does he still live here?"

"Yes, he still lives in town. We don't have many classes together. The only time we actually hang out with each other is before school, lunch and after school. And say a quick hi while going to our next class."

"What classes do you two have together?"

"Science and math."

Stephanie's mom nodded then smiled. "Why don't you call Aaron and invite him over?"

"He's out of town visiting his grandparents."

"Oh."

Silence swept the kitchen for a few minutes before Stephanie got up. "I'm gonna go to my room for a bit."

"Ok sweetie."

With that Stephanie went up to her room, shut the door and flopped down on the bed with a sigh while gazing at the ceiling. She didn't hate her mother or anything but it seemed the older Stephanie got, the less the two of them had in common. Or maybe it just felt that way because Stephanie was a 'daddy's girl'. She had spent a few hours in her room until the phone rang and was called down to the kitchen. Once she entered the kitchen her mom handed the phone to her.

"Hello?"

"Hey Steph, I'm having a sleepover. Wanna come?" one of Stephanie's girlfriend's asked through the phone.

Moving the phone a bit, Stephanie called out to her mom about being invited to the sleepover. Her mother called back out saying it was ok. Smiling, Stephanie told her friend that she'd be over in fifteen then hung up.

"Do you need a ride?"

"No, she lives four houses down."

"Ok sweetie."

Stephanie hugged her mom then ran upstairs to pack a sleepover bag. After that was done she came back downstairs, hugged her mom and said I love you before heading out the door. Stephanie practically ran to her friend's house in excitement knowing she'd have a good time. Movies. Popcorn. Manicures. Pillow fights. Truth or dare. Pizza. Ice cream. The works. Once she got to her friend's house and rang the doorbell, she was let in and the fun began.

The next morning Stephanie had gotten up with the feeling they could only describe as being hung over from all the junk food and sugar their bodies took in. After her friend's parents made breakfast for everyone Stephanie felt a little better. Once she had eaten breakfast and thanked her friend for inviting her to the sleepover, she had started to head home. As she got closer to her house she noticed her dad's car and a huge smile spread across her face. Stephanie took off sprinting to the house to welcome her father back home. When she opened the door, she froze at what she saw. Standing there was her father, her half dressed mother with a horrified face and one of their neighbors that lived across the street, who was also half dressed with a horrified face. Stephanie tried to get words out but her lips flapped like a fish as she stood there dumbfounded. All pairs of eyes went to Stephanie and the only thing she could do was drop her bag, hold back the stinging tears, run up the stairs and slam the door to her bedroom before leaning against and sliding down it as the flood gates opened.

 **End of Spring Break of 1989**

"Hey Steph!" A voice called out.

Blinking a few times, Stephanie looked up and saw Aaron Goodwin, one of (and only) best male friend. She tried her best to put on a smile even though the past week was horrible after finding out that her mother had been seeing one of their neighbor's behind her dad's back.

"Hey Aaron." She said as he got closer to her.

"Setting a new trend now?" He joked, gesturing to Stephanie's jacket hood still covering her head.

"No." She chuckled a bit. "Just forgot I had it pulled up." She said as she pulled it off her head.

The two of them started walking across the school yard together. Stephanie listened to what Aaron did during spring break and Stephanie was a bit jealous about it. He had gone parasailing, something Stephanie had on her bucket list.

"I'm so jealous right now. Parasailing's on my bucket list!"

"You know what? I'll take you one of these days...when we're older I mean."

Stephanie laughed. "I'll take your word for it."

"So how'd your spring break go?"

Stephanie thought back on it with emotions starting to hit her but she hid them with a shrug. "It went ok I guess. Nothing exciting like yours."

Aaron gave her a concerned look, knowing something happened because Stephanie was usually the kind of friend that would tell him anything. "Steph." He said stopping in his tracks and so did she and looked at him. "Whatever it is, it'll get better somehow." He held out his pinky.

Stephanie smiled lightly at the gesture. That was one of their things when they were little. If one of them had a bad day, or got hurt, or bullied, they always pinky promised. She took her pinky and entwined it with his. The warning bell had rung, both of them looked at each other then started running to the school jokingly blaming one another that it was going to be the other one's fault for making them late.

 **Few Years Later**

It was the summer of 1994, Stephanie had turned eighteen and was now stressing out. Reason? It was graduation day from Grover Cleveland High School. Stephanie wasn't stressed over if she was graduating or not because she knew she was, it was the fact that her parents were going to be there. Her parents separated a year and a half ago so who knew what was going to happen when they all got together later for the celebration.

"How'a ya feeling Steph?"

She sighed. "Nervous."

"Me too."

She turned her head, looking at Aaron amused. "Why are you nervous? You just go on stage, take the diploma given and shake the superintendent's hand."

"Yeah but you know how clumsy I am. I may trip over my own foot and take the curtains down."

"You'll be fine Aaron." Stephanie chuckled.

"Why are you nervous? I'm sure you're not going to trip over your own feet."

"My parents." Stephanie sighed, pausing for a bit and looking back up at the blue sky that held white cotton ball like clouds. "They haven't seen each other for a year and a half. What happens if one of them causes a scene? I mean, this is supposed to be a happy day right? What happens if it goes horribly wrong?"

"Steph, it'll be fine. I'm sure they'll act civil with each other 'cause it's your day to shine. Surely they wouldn't take that away grown you."

"You're right. If they're real parents, they'll put their troubles aside." Stephanie looked at her watch then sat up quickly. "Oh crap! The ceremony's in three hours, I still gotta get things done!"

"Like what?"

"Shower. Make up. Hair style...even though the hair doesn't really matter since we'll be wearing the graduation cap but still. Then there's painting my nails, was planning on painting them the school colors. Then there's the outfit and shoe choices."

Aaron laughed, sitting up too. "We better get going then. I still gotta do some of the things you said too."

Both of them got up and headed to their cars. "I'll see you at the ceremony Aaron." Stephanie said about to get in her car.

"Ok and Steph..." She stopped and looked at Aaron. "It'll be alright." He held out his pinky. Stephanie chuckled, running to him to give a quick pinky lock before going back to her car. The both of them waved and took off in different directions.

Two and a half hours later, Stephanie had showered, done her hair, done her nails and now had picked out the outfit and shoes she wanted to wear with the graduation gown.

"Sweetie, we gotta leave soon." Her dad's voice echoed through the house.

"I'm almost done." She called out.

Slipping into her knee high dress and two inch high heeled shoes, she then put the gown over it and headed down the stairs. Before Stephanie made it all the way down the stairs, her father started taking pictures.

"There's my baby girl. This doesn't feel real, swear just yesterday you were learning how to walk." He said giving his daughter a big bear hug. "We better get going."

The two of them left the house, got in the car and headed to the high school. Once there, Stephanie had gotten out of the car and headed into the school while her dad found a parking spot.

"There you are! Thought you weren't going to make it in time."

"Really Aaron? You think I'd miss our graduation?" She laughed.

"No." He laughed with her.

Then a few teachers came in to settle all the seniors down and they began talking. A few minutes after that the students started lining up alphabetically by last name like they rehearsed earlier that day. Once everyone was in the right spot, they were led out to the football field. After everyone was seated in their assigned seat, the ceremony began with the superintendent speaking at the podium on how proud he was of the graduating class and that they'd make a big difference in the world. The superintendent finished his speech fifteen minutes later and began giving out the diplomas one by one.

"Aaron R. Goodwin."

Aaron walked to the stage with a huge grin as everyone clapped. "Way to go Aaron!" Stephanie said, which made him wave in her direction.

Once he got his diploma and shook the superintendent's hand, he made his way across the stage, down the stairs and back to his seat before another name was called out. Ten minutes later the superintendent got to Stephanie's name.

"Stephanie F. Hollingstead."

Stephanie got up from her seat, made her way up to the stage as the applause kept going and she even heard Aaron whistle, which made her smile even more. Taking the diploma, she shook the superintendent's hand then headed across the stage, down the stairs and back to her seat. About a hour and a half later, the ceremony was over and the graduating class got to throw their caps into the air. Once people started filing out of the football field, Aaron, his parents and Stephanie's father came to her to congratulate each other. The only thing that was missing was Stephanie's mother.

"I'm sorry Steph." Aaron said as his parents talked to her father.

Looking at Aaron, Stephanie saw that he was sad about her mother not showing. "You know what?"

"What?" He asked curiously.

"I think I'm going to be fine without her. I've got you and my dad. You two have supported me through everything. So I think I'm going to do just fine without her." She smiled at him.

Aaron smiled and gave Stephanie a big hug. "That's the Stephanie I know."

They both laughed and knew things would be fine in the end.


End file.
